Re: [Harp-L] Projection

["steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of the things in my life of which I am most proud is the minimal amount of success I have achieved with the harmonica. 
I grew up rural and poor, where nobody played music. Not in my family. I was 39  years old when I first attempted to make music on the harmonica. My goal was to learn one song well enough to get up and play with a band. That modest goal evolved into my playing bass guitar with several country music bands (not well, but adequate) and later evolved into my current interest in upright bass, along with the harp. 
I have little natural musical talent. It took me years before I could hear chord changes, even the simple three chord country songs. But, for some reason, I perservered. I'm not sure why, other than I just wanted so badly to learn and to play. 
Working a difficult job, dealing with life and all its roadblocks, have made my musical advancement very ragged and sometimes not very pretty. But I keep on trying. I seem to go backward as much as forward much of the time. 
However, every now and then, there will be one of those magical nights, or even maybe just part of one song, where things come together and you can feel it just right. That's what I strive for and it's why I keep trying to endure the frustration that comes with that. 
 I envy those of you with such great musical talent. But I also know that none of it probably came as easy as you make it look.

Ramblings from a cluttered mind.
Steve in Minnesota


---- Splash <celtiac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> Alot of what Ken says is about everything in life.  I was watching one of
> the candidates for President in America recently and what he said really
> resonated with me and my music.  He was talking about global politics but I
> heard it in the context which I was relating to at the time. [Dennis
> Kucinich, Congressman from Cleveland]
> 
> He said, paraphrasing here... That when we are at a crisis point, or a stage
> when the difficulties are the greatest and the tension is highest, and
> things look the most dire, is when the potential for a major breakthrough is
> also the greatest.
> 
> When I am in the doldrums musically, and seem stuck, the tendency is to take
> a break.  Go do something else for a few weeks.  But when I persevere, and
> keep pushing and pushing, and my angst get so great that I just want to
> quit, that's when I will get some little thing that sparks my muse and I get
> enthused and then - viola!  Breakthrough.
> 
> Alot of people are tempted to ease up when the going gets tough, and keeps
> getting tougher, and there seems to be no relief.  That's when you need to
> grit your teeth and keep at it.
> 
> Like one of my mentors once told me, "How you do anything is how you do
> everything." [T. Harv Eker] Some folks quit when the going gets the
> toughest.  And that's the same whether it's a relationship, a job, or at
> school or whatever.  But usually that's when the next smallest step will
> mean success.  They climb the staircase to the next-to-last step and then
> give up. One step away from the top.
> 
> Those who become successful are them that take that next step when it seems
> the most hopeless.
> 
> PEACE
> Scott
> Believe in Magic!
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ken Deifik" <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 2:35 PM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Projection
> 
> 
> >
> > >But like Robert says : do the work !
> >
> > I'm with Chris and Robert.
> >
> > At every stage of one's development as a musician (or in any other
> endeavor
> > for that matter) it's the stuff that's HARD to learn that provides the
> > great breakthroughs to the next level.
> >
> > When you hear people say they're in a rut, or bored stiff or that there's
> > nothing left to learn, it is because they no longer want to experience the
> > great discomfort of trying to learn something that's so hard to learn that
> > your first impulse is to throw whatever it is out the car window.  After
> > you get pretty good at something, lots of stuff is alot easier to learn,
> > and your self-image brightens up, and tells you you're talented enough to
> > have had those breakthroughs that you've made already, and you're not
> > having a rough time getting better.  Now, when you identify something that
> > is hard to learn, it is very nearly an experience of revulsion: 'I thought
> > I was past the hard stuff! I'm outta here before I get really depressed.'
> >
> > This is one of the few ubiquitous human situations, as far as I can
> > tell.  I have never met a person who doesn't hit those comfort-zone stages
> > all through their lives, me more than most.  But I have come to relish the
> > sensation that I'm not smart enough or talented enough to learn a thing
> > without a great deal of unpleasant effort, because I'm now fully aware
> that
> > that's the prelude to a breakthrough - the perfect time to plow on.
> >
> > It's the people who really, REALLY, want to excel that learn to not duck
> > away from the unending surprise appearances of Hard Stuff To Learn.  I
> love
> > those stages where I seem to grow and learn effortlessly, just by
> > practicing every day, but I get really suspicious after a while, that I
> > have entered a rut even if it doesn't feel like one yet.
> >
> > I didn't really follow this thread when it was about something
> > mechanical-sounding in chromatic harmonica, I think, as that observation
> > seemed pretty subjective, and was in an area where I had nothing to
> contribute.
> >
> > But now that it seems to be about learning how to play one's instrument so
> > that it doesn't sound mechanical, well I've thrown my hat in the fire, as
> > Ted Baxter once said.
> >
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